


Out Of His Sight ; Out Of His Mind

by SilhouettedBowTie



Series: The Good Things & The Bad Things [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode Fix-It: s04e17-18 The End of Time, Fix-It, Greek Mythology - Freeform, M/M, Orpheus and Eurydice Myth, Pre-Relationship, You don't really need to know anything about Greek mythology to read the fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-09
Updated: 2016-04-09
Packaged: 2018-06-01 04:25:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6500728
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilhouettedBowTie/pseuds/SilhouettedBowTie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Doctor, with the Master in tow, walk down a corridor of the afterlife.</p><p>'... [they] continued their trek further down into the impossible hallway- which the Doctor found to be quite fitting, really, since just about everything about his present situation was impossible. Now that he thought about it, almost all of the situations he found himself to be in throughout his entire life were those of the impossible sort.'</p><p>--</p><p>An AU inspired by the Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Out Of His Sight ; Out Of His Mind

**Author's Note:**

> The fic title is in reference to Anaïs Mitchell's song 'His Kiss, The Riot,' from her album 'Hadestown'.

The bare white corridor stretched further than what the Doctor could comprehend. Above him, there were constellations in place of a roof.

 Far off in the distance, a supernova was happening.

“You know, things were a whole lot more simple when you at the very least _pretended_ to outright hate me,” said the ever-neutral, always vaguely patronising voice from behind him. Sometimes, the Doctor thought he could feel the ghost of a breath on his neck. But never did he turn to look- he decided it would be in his best interest to heed the advice of that strange note; _No matter what, you must turn around at no cost._

The Doctor shrugged. “I was never exactly a convincing liar.”

The Master snorted derisively, “of course you are. You’ve been doing it to yourself for centuries.”

The Doctor didn’t know how to respond to that, so he didn’t. The Master filled the silence with more input, instead.

“Why did you even bother to come and get me? I’d wager a bet and say it’s probably a popular opinion that the universe could do without a madman like me.”

The Doctor shrugged again. “Maybe I’m just as crazy as you.”

The Master hummed in agreement. “Maybe. But be that as it may, I still need to know why you’re bringing me back.”

The Doctor huffed- for someone who was trying to maintain an air of idle curiosity, the Master was certainly nagging him aplenty. “A lifetime ago I told you that you could be beautiful, and I still believe that’s true.” In a way, the Doctor considered the Master to already be beautiful- in the same way that a lightning storm is beautiful, so erratic and destructive, but also so reverential in its essence. “Besides, I’ve already lost you enough times.”

This time, the Master rebutted with none of his usual sardonic comments or witty remarks, but stayed in silence. The Doctor wished he could turn around to see the other man, to look into his eyes for the first time in what felt like an eternity and a day, but in reality was probably no more than twelve hours. Instead, he walked onwards.

The Master half-snickered. “So what, if this actually is the afterlife, does this make you my Orpheus?” Despite being unable to see it, the Doctor could feel the Master’s broad, vaguely mocking grin.

“Oh, shut up.” The Doctor muttered tersely. He could feel his mood darken in every passing second, as the bulking weight of uncertainty and apprehension pressed up to his chest and left him out of breath. The afterlife wasn’t real- it was a fable retold countless times in books; and it was in between that myriad of ink and paper that it should rightfully stay.

“Every myth’s inspired by reality in some way or another, my dear Orpheus.” Chirped the Master in a cheerful sing-song voice.

The Doctor pinched the bridge of his nose. “Stop it,” he chastised. He was already tired enough as it was, and the Master gallivanting about in his brain and incessantly demanding attention like a child certainly wasn’t going to make matters any easier. Not even existing in some sort of limbo could make the Master take a situation seriously, apparently. (There was a part of the Doctor that was thankful for it; there was a whole herd of elephants that the Doctor wasn’t prepared to address yet. Or ever, really.)

“Sheesh, I was just trying to make conversation. Besides, your thoughts are so loud I can’t _not_ hear them.”

“You could at least make the effort,” grumbled the Doctor indignantly before sighing and adding, anxious to turn the conversation in a different direction, “so where do you think we are, then?”

There was a momentary pause as the Master thought. “…I’ll get back to you on that one.”

“So, in other words, you don’t know either,” teased the Doctor with a slight smile.

The Master sighed in exasperation theatrically. “Alright, fine, yes. I don’t know.” He paused, “and what’s with this whole thing about you not being allowed to turn around?”

The Doctor gave a single-shouldered shrug. “It could be a progressive paradigm, maybe.”

“You just made that up on the spot.”

“Did not.”

“Yeah you did.”

“…yeah, I did.”

“Well, I concede that your guess is about as good as mine,” the Master sighed, blatantly vexed by his inability to figure something out, “and how about these stars? They sure as hell don’t make up any constellations I’ve ever seen before.”

The Doctor shook his head. “Neither. For all we know, they might be somehow isolated to here… wherever ‘here’ might be.” He made a sweeping gesture with one hand, indicating the entire passageway.

“If that’s the case, then I officially declare these stars ours.”

The Doctor raised his eyebrows, gazing upwards as he observed the stars above- _their stars_ \- amidst swathes of black and blue and violet, and he couldn’t help but laugh warmly. “Oh yeah?”

“For all the things we’ve done for each other, in spite of each other? Yeah, I think we deserve a galaxy or two of our own.” There was a distinct absence of the characteristic mirth or scorn in the Master’s voice, but the Doctor decided that it was for the best if he didn’t comment on it. “That black hole to the east over there is mine and mine alone,” quickly added the Master.

The Doctor rolled his eyes. “Of course.”

“Of course as in ‘of course it’s yours’ or of course as in ‘of course you’d say that’?”

“Both.”

“Figures.”

And so, the last of the Time Lords continued their trek further down into the impossible hallway- which the Doctor found to be quite fitting, really, since just about everything about his present situation _was_ impossible. Now that he thought about it, almost all of the situations he found himself to be in throughout his entire life were those of the impossible sort.

“So, what’s the plan when we get to the land of the living? I really could go for destroying an entire planet or eight right about now…”

“Oh _hardy har._ Sorry to say it, but there won’t be any of that happening.”

The Master huffed a sigh in disappointment, “A shame.”

“You’ll live.”

“I better! Being dead is so… _dull_.”

“For someone who is so allegedly anti-death, you sure do run around and wind up _dying_ a whole lot,” the Doctor pointed out.

“Well it’s not like I ever stay dead, is it?”

“ S’pose not.”

The Doctor stopped walking, tilting his head to the side in a bird-like manner. “Is it just me, or is that a door?” He asked slowly, entirely unsure of if what he was seeing was real or not. Up ahead, no more than thirty feet, was a dark mass the Doctor hadn’t previously been aware of.

“Well, I’m no expert on commonplace objects such as doors, but I’d say that is almost certainly a door,” the Master responded flatly from behind. Again, the Doctor’ felt the sensation of a _presence_ behind him, as if the Master was practically pressing against him, but the Doctor didn’t dare look to find out.

The grandiose door that was a stark contrast from the bland white walls of the corridor; with the exception of the ornate silver handle, it was entirely made of a black wood, with an intricate design engraved in the panels composed of loops and links. _Looks Celtic_ , the Doctor noted. _Why does it look Celtic?_

Brushing aside the odd though, the Doctor slowly advanced towards the door, refusing to blink in fear of the object spontaneously ceasing to exist. “Should… should I open it?” He eyed the handle with reverence.

“That’s the point of a door, Doctor.”

“…fair point.”

 If the Doctor’s hearts had been fluttering this wildly for long, he hadn’t noticed up until that point in time. Slowly, he turned the handle and pushed open the door.

**Author's Note:**

> It's been a while, hasn't it? I took an (approximately) two-year long break from fanfic writing (and writing in general, really) but I'm happy to say that I am back in business! (Not that I ever really *was* in business, mind you).  
> Anyway, in regards to this fic (and what's in store beyond it *wink* *wonk* ):  
> I've always loved Greek mythology, and recently I have been infatuated with the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, so naturally I *had* to write a Doctor/Master fic inspired by it. Real talk, I've had this fic lurking about in my head for ages, and I'm happy to see that it's finally complete. A bunch of dialogue had to be cut because it was super OOC, and finding an ending was a fresh hell (I'm still not 100% about the ending now, to be honest) but overall I'm pretty satisfied with it as-is. c:
> 
> Unexpectedly for even myself, this fic has become the epilogue to a potential series that I've been wanting to write for ages- a complete rewrite of season 5 onwards... featuring 100% more Simm!Master. Aside from it being a rewrite, I'm also gonna be adding my own little plots and the like. I'm super pumped to write it!  
> In saying that, I've got no clue as to how long it'll take that ball- no, that *boulder*- rolling. Because this is gonna be massive. Like, we're talking Cthulu-sized massive.  
> Once I'm done ironing out the bulk of what I want to happen and where, it'll be full steam ahead and I'll get onto writing it. Which is all very exciting and scary.  
> So yeah, keep an eye out for 'The Good Things & The Bad Things'! o: 
> 
> See you next time, and thanks for reading this fic! c: Any feedback regarding it would make this sleepy trashcan very happy. ~
> 
> \---  
> If you ever wanna message me about something, feel free to hit me up on my Tumblr blog, www.shortassmoriarty.tumblr.com


End file.
